A lot of it boils down to personal preference and your own business circumstances.

Although this is more of a technical question (I focus mainly on business operating and marketing principles here), there are definitely some business implications so I’ll share my thoughts.

First and foremost, talk to your technology people.

(Don’t have any? Get some! This is one of the important support relationships to have in business.)

In my business, I call on my “computers guys,” a local father and sons computer and IT business who have been my go-to fixers and advisors on all things computer-related for many years now.

When I asked them about ugrading to Windows 10, here’s what they advise:

“Reserve your free copy, but don’t install it. All new software is buggy, and this one is no exception. We recommend everyone wait for at least six months when a lot of the initial bugs and problems will likely have been identified and fixed.”

As you weigh this decision about whether or not to install, a couple other things to take into account are:

How old is your computer?

Do you have the system requirements for an upgrade to 10?

If you upgrade, will all your other software and tools you use regularly still work or will you have to upgrade them as well?

If you install and then have problems, how will that impact your client work and turn around times?

I’ve been hearing horror stories from clients and business associates who upgraded to 10 right away.

I’ve also heard from other people who think Windows 10 is awesome and have had no problems (so far, anyway, lol).

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer.

Personally, I never install new software right off the bat.

I have too much work to do to deal with the aggravation and time-suck of computer problems and learning curves that are easily avoided by simply waiting a bit longer.

I know from experience that it takes working with things more in-depth before any issues/bugs raise their ugly heads. And that’s usually at the most inopportune time. I have a fast-paced practice and the last thing I need are computer problems stopping everything up.

Plus, I never upgrade right away to the latest (and the “latest” is not necessarily the “greatest” to be sure) because my clients rarely do, and it causes difficulties/incompatibilities in a lot of ways when you are ahead of your client curve.

In fact, you may be surprised that up until a couple weeks ago, I was still running XP and Office 2003/2006 on my primary workhorse computer.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a technophobe in the least. Far from it. You can’t be in this business.

And I have always had all the new stuff on my laptops.

But bad design is bad design.

I just don’t like anything Microsoft redesigned after XP so I kept it on my main computer. If it ain’t broke, there ain’t nothing that needs to be fixed. 😉

It’s like this: Just because something is “popular” and “everyone is doing it,” doesn’t make it good.

Likewise, just because something is new, doesn’t make it good.

But technology marches on and the day finally came that I was forced off my beloved XP and Office 2003/2006, lol.

Now, I have Windows 8.1 on everything and running Office 365.

I am probably going to install 10 on my least-used laptop just to see what it’s all about.

But I most likely will not install 10 on my main desktop work computer for another couple years when I have a new computer built by my “computer guys.”

All in all, in deciding if now is the right time for you to upgrade to Windows 10, take this into consideration as well:

Are you newer in business and have few or no clients? Then this might be a great time to bite the bullet and see what happens.

Because if you do run into problems, they won’t have a big impact and you have more time on your hands to deal with them.

However, if you have a busy client roster and workload, you don’t have the same kind of space to deal with computer issues.

If you can’t afford the time, aggravation and downtime that potential computer problems may cause in your practice, I would say slow your roll and give it another six months.

There’s no reason you have to rush into anything right this second. Windows 10 will still be there and in far better shape than it is right now.

Up to now, his symptoms have been relatively mild. So, far, it’s really only been a slight tremor in his right hand and sometimes he says his right leg will “freeze” and not do what he wants. Medication helps alleviate these symptoms immensely.

And while he’s maintained good mental clarity, my sister and I noticed a distinct downturn in his energy this year. He’s slowed down quite a bit and mundane things like operating his cell phone have become increasingly daunting and confusing for him, which is not usual.

We certainly understand that being diagnosed with a serious disease can be very depressing, and it has been for our dad.

He’s a proud guy and always been very independent. He doesn’t want to be a bother to anyone, and he doesn’t want to be treated like an invalid.

So, we’ve all been walking on eggshells around the topic because he gets annoyed with us when we ask how he’s doing, would he like help with anything, etc.

It’s been tough for us as his family because he’s been very close-lipped about sharing medical information with us. Pure stubbornness. We’ve felt helpless and not sure how to support him.

And up until now, he’s abjectively refused to let my sister and I talk with his doctors, ask questions of them and so forth. So we’ve had to rely on whatever my dad chooses to tell us, which is very little.

Well, we all got a wake up call on December 5.

A neighbor, who is also a good friend of 20+ years, became concerned when she realized she hadn’t seen my dad up and about as per his usual habits.

She went over to the house and knocked, but there was no answer. Luckily, the door was unlocked, and she went inside.

She found my dad sitting in the bathtub, fully-clothed, thinking he was in the waiting room at the dentist’s office. He was also having some bizarre hallucinations and my sister later told me that he’s been complaining of nightmares the last month or so as well.

After being taken to the ER, the hospital kept him the whole weekend for observation.

By Sunday, he was much better. Still weak and slow, but back to being himself for the most part.

The conclusion thus far is that a recent increase in his Parkinson’s meds caused some added confusion which then caused him to forget when he had taken his AM and PM doses and he’d end up doubling up on those. So basically he was hopped up on his meds.

On top of that, he hasn’t been eating well, and the hospital found that he is anemic and severely B12 deficient.

Ya, fun stuff.

It is clear that he is entering the realm of not being able to care for himself and manage his own feeding. He used to love his daily French press coffee, but he says it’s all just become too much work.

It’s tough for him to admit, but my dad is realizing now that he needs help and is starting to welcome and warm to the idea of letting us in. We all need the love, help and support of others.

So, I am now entering a new role and chapter of my life: that of being a caretaker for a sick, elderly parent.

It’s times like this that I sing my gratitude over and over to the universe for my business that allows me the flexibility to step in and deal with things in a crisis, and to myself for setting my practice up in a way that gives me breathing room so emergencies are just a blip and don’t turn my business upside down.

When I’m confronted with situations like this, my first instinct is to go into strategizing and mobilization mode: assess the situation, take inventory, organize information and begin to plan. That’s the administrator in me and why I’m so exceptionally good at this business.

These same qualities that make me so well-suited to this business and the processes that I use with clients are now allowing me to be a long-distance caretaker.

So I want to share some of the things I’ve done and tools I’ve used and documents I’ve created in case anyone else in a similar situation or role finds them helpful.

One challenge my family has in caring for my dad is that while my sister lives in Seattle and her home is not far away from my dad’s, she doesn’t drive.

(She’s just always been a nervous driver and used to joke that everyone on the road was safer with her not on it. She realizes that has to change, though, and is taking the necessary steps.)

And while I do drive, I live about 45 minutes away. And let me tell ya, this past week of traveling back and forth every day has been super difficult.

The rest of my dad’s family all live back east in New York so there’s really nothing practical they can do to lighten the load.

He does have many friends and people in his life here who love him and we’re certainly going to accept any and all help that is offered, but obviously, the primary care always falls to family members.

So, technology is a HUGE blessing as we all know! Here’s how I’ve utilized technology to mobilize everyone and keep them up-to-date and in the loop.

Since I’m the one who drives, I have committed to being the primary person to take my dad back and forth to his appointments. (I should mention that his doctors reinforced to my dad what we’ve gently suggested to him: that it’s not safe for him to drive, at least for the time being).

So, the first thing I did was set up an online shared calendar so everyone on my dad’s family and friends care team can stay apprised of his appointments and medical care. There are a ton of free online calendars these days and really it just boils down to whatever one best serves your needs and the level of functionality and features you want. One that we ended up using that was recommended to me is Cozy Calendar. It works on your computer and has a corresponding app for your smartphone. The free version includes calendar, task list and some other goodies, and you can upgrade for a very affordable fee to the ad-free version. Whatever online service you use, look for one that can be shared with everyone on your care team and used across all devices (i.e., computer and smartphone) so communications and information is collaborative and updated in real time.

We were also getting hit with a ton of to-do’s so I immediately downloaded the Workflowy app on my phone and started an account for all of us to share to keep track of everything. With this easy to use technology, we can keep a running list of notes and to-do’s. Everyone knows what needs to be done and you can assign tasks and roles and sort things with simple hashtags. Workflowy uses an outline hierarchy and you can delete things or mark them complete as they are finished. To share a Workflowy account, whoever sets up the account can simply give everyone the login details so everyone who is privy can add to and update the list as well. Again, there are a ton of online to-do list/task management type apps out there to choose from. It’s whatever works for you. I just happen to use Workflowy because it’s super clean and simple and is organized the way my brain works. It’s also free. UPDATE: I used Workflowy initially and it’s still a great free program. However, once I got on the Cozy Calendar, it became easier to keep our to-dos stored there as well instead of in separate programs.

Once I had a minute back at my computer, the next thing I did was put together a master list of important phone numbers and information in Word. The first page/section has the complete names, addresses and phone numbers of all of us (family and friends) involved in caring for our dad. The second page/section has the complete names, addresses and phone numbers of all my dad’s medical service providers (e.g., primary care physician, neurologist, etc.). And the third page/section is a list of all the online services, links and logons we are using to store and share information among our family and friends care team. Please feel free to use the template I whipped up for this.

I also created a medication list in a Word document. Since my sister lives up there and is the one nearest my dad, she is the one who is managing his medications. He has various pills to take three times a day and because she noticed some increasing confusing on his part doing that, she started going over to his house every Saturday and organizing his pill box for that week. So that’s working good, at least until we can get some in-home care since neither one of us is in a position to move in with our dad for the moment. However, I wanted to familiarize myself with my dad’s meds for my own piece of mind, and I feel it’s important that everyone who plays a part in caring for him knows them as well. In the process of educating myself, I ended up creating this document that lists the name of each medication, what it’s taken for, the dosage and instructions and a picture of both sides of the pill (you can take a photo of each med with your camera phone or look for a picture of the med online). Again, please feel free to use my template if it’s helpful to you.

While creating these documents, I also set up a folder in Dropbox and gave access to that folder to our family and friends care team. Along with the other aforementioned documents, I put his will up there, Durable Power of Attorney, Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment document, medical reports and anything else that needs to be kept in one place and is good for everyone to know and have access to quickly and easily. What’s so great about using Dropbox for this is that instead of having to update and send emails to every person any time a document is updated, all you have to do is either add them to the folder or share the file/document link. You have full control over who sees what. Dropbox also has an app that can be downloaded to mobile phones and other portable devices so a document can be opened, viewed and edited from anywhere. Dropbox is free, by the way.

My dad’s medical insurance provider also has a fantastic online service where you can email doctors directly, set up appointments, get lab results as soon as they are done, etc. I have the same insurance and use the online service myself so I know how fantastic is. Since my dad hadn’t done this (technology is difficult for him anymore), I went ahead and got his online account set up. Now, my sister and I can get appointments scheduled and meds ordered faster, email our questions as they arise and communicate directly with my dad’s doctors without having to wait until the next appointment. If your/your family member’s insurance has an online service, I highly recommend you get on it pronto. It will make your life so much easier!

I also had the great idea to start a private Facebook group and added all my dad’s immediate caretakers as members. This has worked out fantastically. We can update, share thoughts and ideas, ask questions, and communicate with each other quickly and easily from any device. One of the reasons I had this idea is because my sister is horrible about answering email and likes to text and while I prefer email and absolutely, positively HATE texting with a passion, lol. With the Facebook group, we can each communicate using our preferred method and it all goes into one central platform, which solves the other problem that all our communications were getting scattered and disorganized across several modes. This centralized everything and we’re communicating with greater ease and efficiency now.

Where available, be sure to utilize the insurance company’s online account services.

Set up a private Facebook group.

I hope this is helpful in some way to someone. We’re still in the very beginning stages of this care-taking role ourselves with all this stuff so it’s definitely going to be a journey. If you are traveling this same road, I would sure welcome any tips and pointers you also have to share and thank you kindly!

I get a lot of emails from people in our industry. And I can’t help but notice some of the things they do in their email that is costing them trust, credibility, connection and ultimately business.

Some don’t use an email address on their own domain. Or, they have an email on their own business domain, but don’t have an email signature and just sign off with their name.

Here are some recent examples of the problems that are caused by ineffective email set-up:

I had someone sign up for class with a hotmail address. This was someone I didn’t already know so I emailed her hoping to get to know each other a bit. I didn’t hear from her for over two months until three or four days before the class was to begin! And even then, she didn’t even know I had emailed her because the email account she signed up with wasn’t one that she checked. Lesson: This is just one reason you want to stick with one email address and use it consistently across all channels and accounts. If you are going to use an email in any kind of business dealing, it had better be one you keep on top of if you expect anyone to do business with you.

I had someone email me with only her first name (for the purposes she was emailing me, her full name was needed). Her name wasn’t in her email address. She had no email signature block. It wasn’t displayed in the from field. And she used a burner email account instead of an email on her own domain. Lesson: If I’m a potential client, I am gone. I’m not going to waste a second of my time hunting around for these details.

Same issue with another email. This one at least was on her own domain, but she had no signature block and when I went to her website, she had no last name anywhere on her site! Lesson: Your clients and business associates are not mind readers. How on earth are they suppposed to figure out who you are? They won’t. Because neither I nor your prospective clients are going to waste their time. And they’re going to wonder what is wrong with you that you are being evasive about your last name in the first place. You’ve just generated ill will and mistrust in your dealings with them.

Your email is an extension of you and your business. You should be taking as much care with the details and the image you are presenting in your email as you do your website, and you should be using your business email with EVERYONE and EVERYTHING.

Your email is a marketing and networking tool and generates traffic to your website. If someone, be it colleague or client, forwards one of your messages to someone else, you want it on your own domain and with a proper set-up and signature.

Worst case scenario, when they have no other information about you, an email on your own domain can lead people to your site whereas a burner email account tells them nothing and leads them nowhere.

Think about how your email and email address appears to your recipients. Take an inventory of your email set-up and if you’re missing anything in the list below, fix it pronto.

1. Set up your primary business email in your domain’s admin panel. I’m here to tell you that if you are stuck here, it’s stopping you up in other places in your business as well. I guarantee it. So get it sorted and figured out first thing so you can move forward with the rest of your business.

2. Be sure the enter your FIRST then LAST NAME where it asks for your name in the user account info when setting up your account up in your email client (e.g., Outlook). NOT your last name first and NOT your business name. This is what your recipients will see in the from field when they receive your emails.

This is super important for many reasons. First and foremost, when you are emailing, you are dealing with people, not machines. When you introduce yourself to someone in person, you tell them “My name is Jane Doe.” You don’t say, “My name is Doe, Jane.” When your email comes across their INbox, you want it to read like a human being, not a machine. This makes makes it more personable as well as easier for people to remember you. Second, you don’t want to use your company name first for the same reason. People do business with people, not nameless, faceless organizations. Having your email display your name makes it personal and facilitates rapport. And if you’re using your business domain, they will easily be able to see what your business and website are.

3. Create an email signature block that is automatically inserted whenever you create a message in your business email account. This should include your name, your company name and your address, contact information and links to your website and/or social networking accounts. This is important. People like at-a-glance information. They don’t like to have to hunt around. So even if your contact information is on your website (which it should be), you want to always be thinking about the convenience of your recipients by putting that info right in front of them. Likewise, do not rely on a VCF card. Lots of people don’t like them or use them, and they often get your emails caught in spam filters.

4. OPTIONAL: For double points, include a headshot and/or your company logo image hosted on your own domain servers. Email signatures with an image included can really bring life to your messages. Images create visual interest, rapport and increase memorability, all of which makes your messages stand out. You don’t want an embedded image because those often get stripped from your messages at the recipient’s end or can get your email caught in spam filters. Better to link to an image hosted on your own servers so that it displays properly and your messages reach your recipients without unnecessary difficulty. If you aren’t sure how to do this, refer to this article on “how to insert an Internet image in my signature.”

5. Include a call-to-action. A call to action is not a tagline or slogan. It’s an instruction that tells people specifically what to do next. If you currently have a free report, giveaway, ezine, blog or something that people can sign up for, put that call-to-action in your signature block (e.g., “Visit {YOUR SITE] to get your copy of my free report [TITLE]”). If you don’t have any lead generation mechanisms (which is what those free offers are), then your call-to-action should be telling them to visit your website. So you could say something like “Visit [YOUR WEBSITE WITH ACTIVE LINK] to learn how you can have/get more [BENEFIT] with my administrative support.”

That should get your creative juices flowing. Can’t wait to see your improved emails!

A colleague asked me how to process a client’s payment herself with PayPal. She had heard about my Credit Card Authorization Form, but wasn’t sure about the actual mechanics of processing credit card payments herself on behalf of her clients and whether she needed to be able to log into their PayPal accounts.

So, here’s what I explained:

Okay, so the credit card authorization form is an agreement between you and the client whereby the client provides you with their credit card details and allows you to keep them on file. This is so that when their fee to you is due, you can simply run the credit card yourself instead of waiting for them to do it.

It’s best for clients who pay you a monthly retainer or any other usual or set amount on a regular basis. This is an excellent way to take another detail off of your client’s plate while ensuring you are paid on time every month. And it really doesn’t matter what credit card processing service you use. My client’s love it and I never pay myself late, lol. 😉

With regard to PayPal specifically, there are a couple ways you can process the payment. The first is that, yes, you can log into the client’s PayPal account if they wish to provide you with that information. However, it’s not necessary and for many reasons I really don’t recommend this.

There needs to be a great deal of trust there already for a client to provide you with their PayPal account info. That level is usually only established with clients who have been with you for several years, and you don’t want to get blamed for any problems with their account just because you are the only other person who happens to have access to it. Know what I mean?

I recommend the second option, which is that you simply process the payment as a guest. As a guest, you don’t need to log into a client’s PayPal account to process their payment. As long as you have their credit card details and the proper legal authorization form on file, you can process any payment without the client even needing an account.

Here’s how to set up a payment page on your website. Here’s an example of my payment page from my old website:

Create a dedicated web page on your site. You can simply call it “payment” or “submitpayment.” Include the link in your navigation, site map or otherwise make it clearly visible and easily found on your site (perhaps as an image graphic in a sidebar on all pages).

Get the HTML code to place a PayPal “Pay Now” button on the page.a) Log into your own PayPal account and go to the “Merchant Services” tab.

b) Click on the “Create Payment Buttons for Your Website” option, then click on “Create a Button.”

c) Select the “Buy Now” button type.

d) Since this is going to be a generic button, leave the “Item ID,” “Price” fields blank. If you want to give a name, call it something like “Submit Payment” or “Pay Now.”

d) Under the “Customize Button” section, click on “Customize text or appearance.”

e) Under “Select button text,” select “Pay Now.”

f) Read through the other options so you know and understand what’s there and change anything you need to accordingly. You also have the option to use your own button graphic if you choose.

g) Once all that is done, click on “Create Button” and the HTML code will appear. Select that code and place it in the HTML section on your Payment page where you’d like the button to appear.

Publish your new Payment page.

So now, whenever you need to process a payment on behalf of a client, you just go to your Payment page and click on the “Pay Now” button. When the PayPal page appears, click on the option where it says “Pay with your debit or credit card as a PayPal guest” and then enter the amount due and the client’s credit card information.

There are a few significant irritations I have, one of which it that whole ribbon thing.

It was a pointless reinvention that didn’t improve anything.

What used to be simple, straightforward and all in one place that you could easily use out-of-the-box, now is needlessly convoluted and requires more time and effort to get set up. What you could get to in one, possibly two, quick clicks, has now become a Rubik’s cube of a maze with all kinds of twists and turns and clicks needed to do what you want.

It’s a pain in the ass, if you ask me.

Anyhoo, when I got a new laptop, I was forced more or less to install/upgrade to the 2010 Office Suite.

One of the things that would drive me crazy was that I couldn’t find any of my usual, frequently-used commands anymore, one of which was “Select All” (formerly under the Edit drop-down list).

And before you tell me about CTRL + A, let me just say… um, duh.

However, there are times when I don’t have a keyboard in front of me—like when I’m laying in bed and checking messages on the big screen tv with only my mouse.

After pulling my hair out for a few months, I finally figured out where Microsoft had hidden it.

If this has been driving you, too, batty, here are the steps to add it back into your command options:

In the top left of Outlook is the Quick Access Toolbar. Select the little arrow icon to “Customize Quick Access Toolbar.”

Click on “More Commands” in the drop-down menu.

From the list that appears, select “Commands Not in the Ribbon.”

Scroll down until you find “Select All,” highlight it and click “Add.”

Click “Okay.”

You will now see a new option up in your Quick Access Toolbar to “Select All.”

Now, whenever you need to do a select all (such as selecting all the spam messages that accumulate in your email inbox so you can move them over to the junk mail folder in one fell swoop), just click on that “Select All” command button.

Maybe you all know this, but I just learned how I should be using my laptop battery and how to charge it properly the first time.

When you first get the battery, don’t charge it and don’t plug in the power cord. Instead, immediately snap it on the laptop and use it until it runs out of life completely.

THEN, plug in the power cord and recharge the battery in full. As soon as it’s fully charged, unplug the power cord.

I was told that if you’re going to use your laptop, use either battery power OR electrical power, not both together. Big no-no!

When you do that (which I’ve always done in the past, bad laptop user that I am, lol), it destroys the battery cells and you won’t get as long a life of use from it.

That means, if you’re going to use electrical power, you should remove the battery whenever you have the power cord plugged in. And vice versa: If you’re going to use battery power, unplug the power cord from the laptop entirely.

With my laptop batteries being relatively pricey to replace, I’m definitely going to follow this advice from now on.

I did get a good two or three years worth of use from my last 10-hour extended life battery, though, so not too bad! But I plan to take better care of my next one.

Besides not charging properly, another reason people aren’t earning well in our business is that they are selling hours instead of pricing for solutions. This is called value-based pricing and it’s a methodology I introduced to our industry back in 2004 and have been teaching since then.

I recently conducted this class in June and I wanted to share with you the exciting testimonials I received from some of the attendees:

“Your classes are always fun and informative. I have been on calls before for webinars, and it seemed as if I was the only person on the call. But not with you. You give such awesome information and examples that it is hard not to get excited about how you are going to apply all that you have learned. You make it easy for everyone to ask questions and not feel as if “oh, that was a stupid question.” That is why it is hard to get off your calls. I learn a lot from the other people on the call as well as the information and templates you provide. I now have a clear picture of why I should have packages instead of charging by the hour.” —Tracy Carson, Te L – Us Business Solutions, LLC

Thank you so much, Tracy! I was especially thrilled by Tracy’s feedback because I know she is a very discerning customer and has been disappointed in the past by other teleclasses she’s attended from others, which makes her feedback even more meaningful. I’m so glad I was able to help, Tracy! There is nothing better than that!

“This program is amazing, and I am so glad I was able to participate. I dreaded spending the time for billing each week because it took up way to much time that I could be spending with my family. Since participating in the webinar and implementing the pricing plan with two new clients, it has taken all the stress out of billing. That alone has made this program worth it. I have advised all my clients that as of the new quarter (August) all billing will be switched over to this program, and even a few are excited about it. Not having to worry about weekly billing and increments of 15 min they, too, feel it will be less stressful when trying to read their invoices. I have one client who decided to not wait and we are working on his support plan to get him started right away. Thank you for sharing you knowledge and simplifying the trials and errors that you have endured to create the impossibly easy billing! I can’t wait for your next webinar because I will make sure I have signed up for it to attend.” —Teri Williams, Sidekick Assistants

Oh, what wonderful news to wake up to!! This is just so thrilling and I am ecstatic for Teri and her business! What I love even more is that she was fearless, took action right away and just DECIDED to implement things (and didn’t sit around waiting for clients’ permission).

She knew it would help her and she knew it would definitely benefit her clients and help them see that they could both be more focused on the client’s goals and dreams and achieving objectives instead of counting hours. I so LOVE THIS!

Now here’s the bad news… The class I held in June was the last live class I planned on doing on this topic. I have many more new and exciting projects I want to focus on, as well as a big adventure I’m planning to start late 2013 or early 2014.

Click on the link and you will be taken to the product information that will let you know all that is included in the guide, some sample images and a video explaining why pricing by the hour and selling hours is killing your business.

I am proud as punch of this program, and as evidenced by all the testimonials of customers and attendees, it has really and truly transformed the income and businesses of those who have purchased the toolkit!

I am just starting out and one of my main specialties is transcription. I have thus far been transcribing for two companies where I sign onto their secure server to obtain my digital recordings, load them onto my desktop, and then proceed to transcribe and then email the completed product back to them. Since I am setting out on my own, I am wondering what some options are for obtaining the digital recordings from other clients, if they do not have a server set up where they load their recordings. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions? —LB

I think DropBox may work quite well for this. I tell ya, I have found DropBox to just be so completley indispensible in my work with clients. It’s easy to install and simple to understand, and I find new ways to use it all the time. And, not that I’m the advocate for everything being free (quite the opposite!), but it does just happen to be free so there’s that, too, lol.

What you could do is set up a shared folder for each client and then create an IN folder for incoming transcriptions and an OUT folder for completed transcriptions.

As I’m sure you’re aware, sound files can be quite large which makes them not well-suited for email delivery. Email is not exactly secure either if you are dealing with confidential information.

Plus, if you have frequent large attachments like that going in and out on a regular basis, your ISP might get testy. Sure, you could zip them up, but that’s an extra step at both ends. And anytime you can eliminate extra steps, it sure makes things a lot more convenient.

So here again, a secure cloud storage solution like DropBox where you can transfer and share large files such as this is a perfect solution.

For other transcription tools, be sure to also check out the ACA Free Software Directory. Of particular interest, you will find ExpressScribe which is another brilliant tool that is so indispensible, it’s a wonder they don’t charge for it. But they don’t, and it’s free.

This isn’t particularly transcription related, but another tool I use extensively in my work with clients is Airset, which also happens to be free.

This service is what is known as a shared collaborative virtual office where you can set up a private/separate account for each client you work with so that you have a central location in which you both share documents, keep track of work requests and projects, share calendaring and many other features.

I only use the shared calendar feature because it has the best and most extensive reminders feature of all the shared virtual office suites I’ve used (and I’ve used just about ALL the main ones out there). For my needs, I don’t find it stable enough to make use of any of the other features, however, they do have them and perhaps they will work well for you. Check it out!

One caution about using free tools… just because something is free doesn’t make it the right solution. Often things that are free come with strings or are not the most stable or secure. These services I mention in this post are rare exceptions of excellence. If you do use free tools, be sure they have the capabilities to grow with your needs as your business and client roster grows. And remember that bumping up to the next level of features, stability, capacity or security often requires you to move to a paid plan (and rightly and fairly so). Just some things to keep in mind.